Wednesday, 22 April 2009

The real ADUG

Interesting article in today's Guardian by David Conn about the board and how they operate. Basically, they're much more patient and thoughtful than people give them credit for. Conn paints them in stark contrast to the more reckless and trigger-happy Shinawatra.

The rhetoric of Sulaiman Al Fahim, the takeover's original front man, who talked of "very deep pockets" to buy Cristiano Ronaldo and a sticker-book of other galácticos, alarmed Mansour by setting exactly the wrong, wad-waving tone and Al Fahim was quickly removed. Club insiders accept ruefully that January's Kaka bid, and its unseemly collapse, seemed to confirm that loadsamoney impression. Yet they insist that Mansour and his chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, chairman of the Abu Dhabi government's Executive Affairs Authority and one of the emirate's highest-flying executives, are setting out a 10-year plan for City based on solid foundations, without hollowing out the soul of the club.

If they're as patient and long term as David Conn describes them as being, they may well stick with Mark Hughes for next season. Read it all here.